John 14:23 Jesus replied, ‘Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.

My faith is in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ!I follow his teachings and it has always caused me to be persecuted at a variety of levels and methods. My family also! Persecutors do not discriminate on grounds of age and gender.

24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.’

Persecutors:

Distance themselves from you

Lie to you and about you

Seek to use you

Put rigid conditions in place before they love you

Are selfish in their conduct towards you

Smile when they see they are causing you and your family pain

Seek to interfere with your family to make it unstable

They seek to make you react against their persecution and thus look bad

They distort the Holy Bible and make out God is a liar

They fight against the will of God

They avoid defending you when their persecution takes hold

They never apologise or make reparation when their persecution comes to public notice

They leave town once exposed

Justice is not something that they want for you

They are brazen in that they openly persecute you

They are brazen in that they openly disobey the teachings of Jesus

Moral Law is something that they completely disregard

Etc.

This all happened because I simply trusted the Lord Jesus and loved Him for what he did for me, a wicked and lost soul.

THIS IS IMPORTANT!!!!!!!!

Persecution
Anyone who truly gives their life to the Lord Jesus will suffer persecution.

The Lord Jesus says in John 16:33 ‘I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.’

Persecution is unfair or abusive treatment toward a person or group of people, such as the persecution of someone who is different by calling him or her rude names and making threats.

The noun persecution is related to persecute, which comes from Latin persecut-, meaning “followed with hostility.” Persecution means hassling or singling out a person or group because of race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, or social status.

The Lord Jesus suffered persecution. He voluntarily submitted to it. He was patient while under it. As He said above, those as described in John 14:23, his spiritually converted Disciples, may expect it.

His spiritually converted Disciples suffer it for the sake of God. Their persecution, is a persecution of the Lord Jesus. To repeat because it’s important. All that live godly in Christ, shall suffer.

Why is there persecution? It originates in the persecutors ignorance of God and Christ Jesus and their hatred of them. Hatred of the Gospel of Jesus. Pride! Mistaken zeal. It is inconsistent with the spirit of the Gospel in that even some Christians persecute others. Humans by nature are addicted to it. Preachers of the Gospel, like Mike Hill, are subject to it for no valid reason; some unto death. God does not forsake the true disciples who are under persecution, in fact, he delivers them out of it. Persecution cannot separate the true Disciple from the Lord Jesus Christ. Lawful means may be used to enable them to escape it.

Disciples suffering persecution should commit themselves to God. Exhibit patience. Rejoice. Glorify God. Pray for deliverance. Pray for those inflicting the persecution. Return blessings for the persecution. The hope of future blessings supports those who are under it. They are blessed for enduring it for Christ’s sake. They pray for those suffering persecution. Hypocrites, those who claim to belong to God, but they don’t love and obey the Lord Jesus, cannot endure it and would even deny loving Jesus in order to avoid it. False teachers of Christianity shrink from it.

The Wicked are addicted to persecuting others and are active in it, even encouraging others to do it. In fact they rejoice in its success! However, they are punished for doing the persecution.

My Full Testimony outlines some of the persecution I and my family faced and that I still face, even from many Christians.